TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. 



Nevertheless, totally different as are the facts brought 

 into the foreground by each of these investigators, there 

 is a common substratum belonging to them all, and the 

 best possible knowledge of what timber, or wood, is, 

 will be got by comparing all their statements, and find- 

 ing out what relations they bear to each other, sifting 

 out what depends on inferences drawn from incom- 

 plete examination, and fitting together in their proper 

 sequence all those which support one another. 



With this end in view, I propose to give some idea 

 of the kind of way of looking at a piece of wood which 

 seems prevalent among various sections of professional 

 and scientific experts who concern themselves with wood 

 in one form or another. 



Let us first examine the points of view taken 



I. BY THE TIMBER-MERCHANT. 



It will readily be understood that when our piece of 

 wood comes into the timber-yard, from its forest home 

 away in the hills, or beyond the sea, or wherever it was, 

 the first tests to which it will be subjected are at the 

 hands of the sharp-eyed, experienced man of business 

 whose purpose is to sell or buy it ; and when we reflect 

 that — to say nothing of the vicissitudes to which it was 

 exposed while growing in its native forest — the wood 

 may have passed through many perils as it lay felled on 

 the ground, or as it slid down the timber-slide, or was 

 carried down the hills on sledges, or rolled helter-skelter 

 into the river, thence to be floated, or carted, or carried 

 by rail to its destination, it will be evident the expert 

 who is concerned with buying and selling the timber 

 must have his eyes open to many possibilities before he 

 decides as to the quality of the wood he examines. We 



